Controversial Chairman of Nepal Telecom Authority Digamber Jha resigned on Wednesday.

Jha put in his papers to the Minister for Communication and Information Technology Minister Gokul Prasad Banskota on Wednesday after 43 Central Committee members of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) demanded his resignation and submitted a memorandum demanding his ouster at the ongoing party standing committee meeting.

A parliamentarian from the ruling party, however, claimed that Jha was in fact sacked.  

Jha was reappointed the NTA chairman in September despite his controversial track record. He had been dismissed as the NTA chairman by the Oli government in July 4, only to be reappointed for a four-year term on September 7 at the recommendation of a hiring committee, led by Information and Communication Secretary Mahendra Gurung.

Jha had said at a programme in Kathmandu on Tuesday that he was ready to tender his resignation if the government was uncomfortable working with him. “I do not have any greed for power or position. If the prime minister or any minister

has problem because of me, I am ready to step down.”

Sources said Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was under pressure from his own party leaders to remove Jha.

During the ongoing standing committee meeting of the NCP, leaders had criticised party’s Co-chairman Oli for harbouring a controversial figure like Jha knowing his chequered past.    

The NCP leaders, in their memorandum presented to the party leadership, had called out Jha for his alleged involvement in several financial scandals from the time he was the managing director of Nepal Oil Corporation.

“The NCP leaders are trying to assassinate my character with unwarranted allegations,” Jha had said on Tuesday.

NCP Parliamentarian Ram Kumari Jhakri, a vocal critic of Jha’s reappointment, on Thursday tweeted:  “The government has shown a ray of hope by sacking corrupt Jha. We 43 central committee members of the party had submitted a memorandum to the party leadership to remove him. The government has forced to resign him.”